We were among the millions of travelers who took advantage of the lower gas prices and good weather to travel over Thanksgiving weekend. I think most of those millions were driving on I-75.
We made the two-day trip to Columbus, Ohio where we visited son Greg and family and were joined by son Tom and his four children who came from the Washington, D.C. area.
Thanksgiving Day was great. We were thrilled to wake up to snow flurries, with no accumulation. Our family rarely gets together due to long distances apart, so this year was special.
It was great seeing the six grandchildren — all of them now teenagers. We hadn’t seen the D.C. contingent for five years. Since we have not had a lot of contact with that age group, we couldn’t help but note how all were always on their cell phones communicating with friends and each other. But they are all great kids who can help you with any technology problem.
On Friday, we drove another 150 miles to Southeastern Ohio to visit my sister who is in assisted living, and we also had opportunity to visit with her son, my nephew, who had come from the D.C. area. He just retired from 30 plus years in the military where he was the drum major for the U.S. Army ceremonial band. He is a trombone player, far better than I; and our conversations revolved around different models of “bones” and how he has made several lamps out of the bells of “old bones.” It was great to see him as well.
Friday night we were surprised by an unexpected visit from daughter Barb and husband who live in Anderson, S.C. They had driven up to see his father in Lima.
Saturday morning was great as we dashed to the ice arena to see grandson Ian help his high school team win a hockey game (one of four in a holiday tournament, which they won on Sunday.) We actually saw him score a goal.
Then it was back to the house for football as we cheered OSU to win over old foe Michigan.
Of course, everywhere we went there was food.
On Sunday we again joined the millions on the road headed for home and experienced multiple areas of miles and miles of gridlock. One, it turned out was for active road repairs. On Sunday? On a holiday weekend? Come on ODOT, What’s up with that?
What should have been a first day 6-1/2 hour trip turned out to be nine hours, but we made it to Cleveland, Tenn. by the grace of God, who literally gave Ron the quick reaction to avoid a sudden stop in traffic which had been going nearly bumper-to-bumper at 70 miles per hour.
It is good to heed the TDOT saying posted over the highway, “Keep your eyes on the road and your head out of your APPS.”
It is always good to get back to sunny Georgia, where we are now running the air conditioner.
We had a great time, but in the future we may follow the advice of the old song, “There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays.”